Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois (English Edition)

The present volume is quite different from the other two autobiographies by Du Bois not only because of its additional two-decade span, and the significantly altered outlook of its author, but also because in it—unlike the others—he seeks, as he writes, “to review my life as frankly and fully as I can.” Of course, with the directness and honesty which so decisively characterized him, he reminds the reader of this book of the intense subjectivity that inevitably permeates autobiography; hence, he writes, he offers this account of his life as he understood it and as he “would like others to believe” it to have been. Certainly, while Dr. Du Bois was deep in his ninth decade when he died, longevity was the least remarkable feature of this Promethean life. As editor, author, lecturer, scholar, organizer, inspirer, and fighter, he was among the most consequential figures of the century. Necessarily, therefore, the full and final accounting of that life and his times—by the man who lived it and experienced them—becomes an indispensable volume for all to whom Life itself has any meaning.